Anybody using the Slovenian cabinet hive?

Afteer several years without my pets I have ordered one nuc for my garden.
I have some standard Langstroth stuff, enough to start a hive---feeder, etc, everything I need for one hive two or three stories high.

However, I really do not like to lift 70 pound boxes any more. If you have any experience with the
Slovenian hive please let me know what you think of them. They are quiite expensive on the net, but for a back yard gardener that can be overlooked.
Ox

if a Slovak can handle a cabinet, I can do it. Propolis is always a problem ten frame or three. My concern is whether or not they have to be in a shelter. All the pictures I have seen seem to show them in buildings, on trucks or grouped under sheds.

I'm already set up for conventional hives, and even one three story Slovenian hive is over $400, so this is going to be investigated a lot more before I jump.

From what I see on the net, it appears much easier to work the bees in that hive than in our conventional bee boxes. Another thing I notice is that someone is selling Slovenian hives built to accept Langstroth frames. Further, not all the Slovenian hives are exactly alike in their cabinetry. For that matter, I have seen some pretty junky nuke boxes here in the states.

I sure would like to run onto someone who has actually used them. Pulling one frame after another in a deep super rather than taking off the whole box is a real come down for a fellow who once thought throwing hay bales was a sport.

I know the feeling. I still move 3 string bales at 58. But it's getting harder. We run conventional hives. But here in western WA it rains a lot. So we put our hive in a shed and they fly through the wall. They stay dry and free from critters. But the deep hive boxes do get heavy and a times the build is very hot inside. We run westerns for honey suppers so we don't have to handle deeps as often. Good luck

Thanks for the input, fellows. I don't intend to get back into beekeeping any deeper than enought to ensure pollination for myself and the neighbors, but I do want to get some honey for my work. I am going to start with what I have, and if anyone has any experience with the Slovenian hives we'll listen.

Troy; Sheds are always useful; I may just have to build another small shed. I looked all over this place yesterday, and the only sheltered places for a hive were impossible for one reason or another. Rain, snow and wind are all nuisances here, and I never liked to have my bees exposed to N. winds in the winter. A small building would be desirable if it were not for the fact that they get so terribly hot here in Summer, so shed it will be.

Never under stood thr need to lift a 10 frame brood hive my self. I used to use 9 frame Illionis mediums for honey harvesting. but by the time I was in my 60's I went 9 frame shallows.

But never really lifter the shallow honey supers much. I was pulling a frame at a time handing to my wife who put them in a empty in the back of the pick up till it was full then set another empty in place.
Back at the honey house I did lift them off the truck on to a dolly I made to move around.

A barn to ther north makes a dandy wind break at one out yard. This used to be my expermint yard. Note the 3 medium brood boxes. talk about a pain in the kister doing a full inspection.

Dog eared boards make a very nice wind block also.

Snow makes for some really nice insulation also to help hold heat in the hives.

Alleyooper: That hive stand with the BB1 boxes on it looks identical to the one I have waiting for my bees. I too used Illinois mediums for honey, but I typically used two full depth for brood boxes and wintering.
We don't get an insulating snow; we get a few inches of wet snow that melts and leaves a wet, nasty cold spell. I see that all yours have some wind protection---good locations.

I see that you provide top ventilation, too. In Tex and Ok I would drill 3/4 inch holes in the front of each box, just low enough that a top cover would not close it. A small wooden lath on a nail could be turned up to make the opening smaller or to close it.

The hive bottoms I have now are screened with the mite traps. How things change. My first bees were wild caught, and queens from Sears were around $3 by mail. I think I paid $195 LAST FALL for the Nuc I'm getting. Lol, how things change.

I built the wind break dog eared panal fence. I also drilled 3/4 inch holes in the brood boxes and in the fall stuff a hunk of dowel in I had tapered. One of the top vents is a slot cut in the intercover, I flip them over in the fall and pull the top cover down over them. This yard we use pine trees as the wind break.

The ventilation holes are clearly visible in these last pictures. I put mine just above the hand holds, being careful not to got so high as to interfere with the frame rests or hive top. In the Texas and OK heat the bees really want that ventilation, especially when they are bringing in nectar.

LOL,. Al!!! I was so impressed with your red BBI beehives that I went to Walmart and got a gallon of red barn paint and painted my woodwork. I put my bees in a hive body this morning, and when they get settled I'll give them the red woodwork. This is 15 year paint, so I'll be 103 before I have to repaint.

The Nuc I got looks good. Lots of bees and five frames mostly filled with brood. I loaded them down with sugar syrup so they won't go hungry. Little smoke, no need for veil or gloves. Two stings in two days, one a lousy, rainy day when any self-respecting guard bee would be spring loaded in the PO'd position.

Those nucs cost $195 each, and I saw people driving off with five of them. Must have been nearly 300 nucs on the lot. First time I've seen the plastic Nuc boxes.

Now I am going to go out to the shop and make a swarm trap. Friend told me that he had two swarms on his place and a woman came from about sixty miles away to collect them. He did not know I had ever dealt with bees.
Ox

My red boxes were returned fence and deck stain I got from Home Depot for $5.00 a gallon. I used it on my feeder box surrounds mostly.
I got most of my box stain at HD return rack for $5.00. Tryed to get light colors mostly.

BB were swarm bees given to me my second year when the package bees I had bought turned out sick and had to be killed. So a bee club member said he would give me a swarm, his name was Bill, AKA Bills Bees.